Attitude of health chiefs is absolutely sickening

I WRITE regarding the article ‘NHS Lothian bans workers from complaining’ (News, July 25), which astonished me. Recently, an independent report concluded that there was a culture of management bullying within the health board and a number of recommendations were made.

Yes, it was suggested that new values would help the service in moving forward but this was not the priority.

The problem was not the staff but the management culture and these new rules do nothing to address the fundamental root of that problem.

In fact, if anything, they put the onus of what was a national scandal on to frontline staff and devalue the immense contribution they make to keeping our health service running.

It’s also astounding that it took 150 meetings to come up with these values and what is deemed acceptable behaviour.

It’s pretty rich to dictate to staff who are under extreme pressure from continual SNP cuts that moaning is “not acceptable”.

Perhaps if practical measures were taken to make staff feel supported and valued they would feel less inclined to moan in the first place.

Senior management’s priorities should be easing the pressures on frontline staff rather than wasting their time constructing values that are already ingrained in the ethos of our hard-working health care professionals.

PLANNERS at the city council are likely to recommend approval of the Edinburgh Academicals’ proposal for development on their Raeburn Place ground (News, July 24).

This has been confirmed by the publication of the department’s report, which runs to 90 pages – a hard read for planning committee members and others.

Stockbridge is recognised as one of the best communities in the UK.

The promoters and supporters of this scheme consist almost entirely of people with connections to rugby or to the Edinburgh Academicals club.

The residential and trading community is overwhelmingly opposed, as evidenced by an analysis of the representations made to the council, petition signatories, etc.

According to the planning convenor and deputy convenor, the committee’s decision will be made principally on the basis of policy, with regard being given also to the interests of local residents.

As the committee report makes clear, this proposal is contrary to policy. The residents and traders expect, therefore, that the application will be refused.

If it is approved, then the process followed by the planning department, and the justification for its recommendation that the scheme should be approved will be subjected to the most rigorous scrutiny.

Dr James Simpson OBE FRIAS, Raeburn Place, Edinburgh

Camilla has earned right to royal role

Prince William appears to have no problem with Camilla being part of his life nor that of his new son, so what right has Sylvia DeLuca (Letters, July 25) to say otherwise?

She may not like it, but Camilla is part of the royal family and will no doubt be called granny by the new prince because she is his grandfather’s wife. There were faults on both sides during Charles and Diana’s marriage and she certainly was no angel.

People deserve a second chance and with Camilla what you see is what you get, unlike Diana who was an actress and had more faces than the Balmoral Hotel clock.

C Lamont, Magdalene Avenue, Edinburgh

Manhole installation has caused chaos

Is it not time that someone at the city council had a look at the mayhem being caused on our roads, due to the sometimes essential repairs?

Niddrie Mains Road, Newcraighall Road, The Wisp and Duddingston Park South were in turmoil all last week, thanks to the installation of a manhole cover.

The crews arrived last Monday morning and erected a four-way traffic and contraflow system – presumably this was considered necessary to dig a hole approximately 6ft by 6ft.

The new manhole cover was fitted and everyone left on the same day.

The tarmac was not re-instated and as of last Thursday no-one has been back near the hole.

However, there has been a man from the contraflow people, sitting in his van all day, every day since then and he jumps out to manually turn the signals on and off at peak times.

The traffic on Niddrie Mains Road on Thursday was taking upwards of 30 minutes to clear and traffic coming from Milton Road was backed up to Duddingston Park.

This pattern of digging holes and leaving them for days, if not weeks, has to be sorted out.

The price of those contraflow and temporary traffic signal systems must be costing the citizens of Edinburgh many millions of pounds per annum.

The building division of the city council is still under investigation. Maybe it’s time someone took a closer look at the roads division.

Ronald William Arthur, Wisp Green, Edinburgh

Shining the light on city traffic signals

Whilst those in city council are aware that they are responsible for maintaining the roads in good condition, they appear to have forgotten they also are responsible for making sure that all traffic signs are visible from at least 100 yards.